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A^ew York State Education Department ■•<^-VvO j\' 

Division of Trades Schools 

Arthur D. Dean, Chief 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Albany, N. Y ., February i, 1910 

Purpose of the circular. This circular is a reprint from the 
annual report of the Education Department submitted by the Com- 
missioner of Education to the Legislature in January 1910. It 
outlines in some detail the following points : 

1 Industrial edacation as it has taken shape in the State 

2 Place of industries in the elementary school 

3 Intermediate industrial education 

4 Trades schools at 16 years of age 

5 Evening trade classes 



T I 3r Ja i o 3000 



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VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 
Introduction 

Since the rather full discussion of the need of a new class of 
schools in connection with the public school system for the train- 
ing of workmen in craftsmanship, which was presented as the 
Commissioner's special theme in the annual report of this Depart- 
ment for the school year of 1907, the matter has had very full con- 
sideration in all parts of the State. It is not too much to say that 
the attitudes taken at that time and their consequent consideration 
in the Legislature, resulting in the Industrial and Trade School Act 
of 1908, clearly gave New York a position of conspicuity and leader- 
ship in the country. In view of this, for the present year, at least, 
it is thought well to treat the subject under a separate title in the 
Department report. 

Since the passage of the law there has been an increasing interest 
in the subject of industrial education within the State. The press 
has given much space to it; State federations of women's clubs have 
,discussed it; every gathering of teachers has devoted a major part 
of its program to topics concerned with training for vocations ; new 
school buildings are devoting space to shops and domestic science 
laboratories, and the people of many communities through men's 
clubs, and boards of trade have come together in public meetings to 
consider the question. The economic, industrial and educational 
considerations of industrial education as they have taken shape in 
this State may be summed up briefly under the following headings : 

INDUSTRIALIEDUCATION FROM PUBLIC VIEWPOINT 

1 That in the minds of the mass of the people, industrial educa- 
tion means the redirecting of our public schools through recogniz- 
ing that they must be adapted to the needs of our people. 

2 That industrial education used in its broadest sense is in no 
way antagonistic to the general function of all education which i^ 
to develop and train the mind, but the mind may be trained by 
means of many subjects, and some subjects or processes are best 
for one group of persons and other processes for other groups. 

3 That effective education should (a) develop out of experience; 
(b) this experience should have relation to vocations and to the 

2 



D. Of 0. 



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pupils' part in life, and (c) every school should be the natural ex- 
pression of the life of its community. 

4 That a school system should be flexible and adaptable to all 
conditions. It must give equality of educational opportunity and 
must not limit its facilities to those who can stay in school in order 
to reap its advantages. That we are called upon today to train our 
boys and girls in an industrial democracy, and our educational sys- 
tem will succeed just to the extent that we make it focus upon the 
industrial needs of each member of this democracy. 

5 That a chasm exists between our educational system and our 
modern industrial life. In the school we have, on the one hand, 
discouraged boys and girls, abnormals, belateds and delinquents 
finding themselves unable mentally and physically to continue with 
credit in the culture process of our secondary schools ; on the other 
hand, we find that science, invention and specialization continue to 
withdraw from the old-time chores — from former occupations 
which gave mental development, and to transplant them beside the 
automatic machine of our factories. 

6 That education must concern itself with the proper selection 
of boys and girls to enter upon various callings in industrial, com- 
mercial or agricultural life for which their circumstances or natural 
abilities best fit them. That there are economic as well as educa- 
tional considerations, quite dififerent from the usually accepted and 
preconceived functions and responsibilities of the ordinary schools. 

7 That industrial education ought to awaken a new school in- 
terest and so help retain boys and girls in school longer and con- 
tribute more powerfully to their development. That industrial 
training, taking pupils at 13 or 14 years of age, when they are of 
little value in a business way, when the education they have re- 
ceived is all right so far as it goes but hardly fits them for working 
places, w^ould serve to give them the proper training to enter some 
branch of actual industrial work. 

8 That the conservation of our children is as importsnt as the con- 
servation of other natural resources such as water power, forests and 
mines. Reliable statistics regarding the dropping out of pupils from 
our public schools are lacking. The number of belated children 
varies in different communities. It is increasingly difficult to hold 
children in school in those cities which have a large foreign popula- 
tion. It is believed that industrial training will have an economic 
value in the eyes of the parents and will assist towards keeping 
their children in school. 



9 That education for vocations, both industrial and agricultural, 
will have a marked effect upon the natural wealth of a State which 
ranks first in manufacture and fourth in agriculture. The extent 
and variety of manufacturers in the State may be appreciated when 
it is stated that of the 339 classifixations used in the census reports of 
manufacturing industries in the United States, 316, or 93.2 per cent, 
were reported for New York. There are approximately 850,000 
wage-earners in the industries of the State making a yearly product 
valued at $2,500,000,000, with a yearly wage of $430,000,000. Our 
homes, churches^ schools, streets, libraries, parks and other social 
betterments are supported by the people ; a large share of the tax for 
the support of these institutions comes from our great industries and 
their workers. There is a direct relationship between the earning 
capacity of our people and the expenditures for civic welfare. 

Organizations cooperating with the Education Department 

A New York State branch of the National Society for the Pro- 
motion of Industrial Education has been organized. Its member- 
ship is composed of a representative body of manufacturers, 
teachers, industrial workers and publicists. Three meetings have 
been held in the past year. Through its public meetings in different 
parts of the State, its publications and bulletins, as well as through 
the personal efforts of its officers, the State branch is materially 
forwarding a propaganda for industrial education. 

The Allied Printing Trades at their convention in Buffalo in 
August 1909, indorsed the purpose and methods of the State Edu- 
cation Department in relation to the establishment of industrial and 
trades schools. Its president, Thomas D. Fitzgerald, was active in 
bringing about this action as well as in opposing certain proposed 
State legislation in reference to industrial training which would 
be detrimental to the interests of organized labor as well as to 
public educational welfare. 

The New York State Federation of Women's Clubs and the 
Western Federation of Women's Clubs have actively interested 
themselves in the matter of public industrial training for both bo)'5 
and girls. The chairman of the education committee of the New 
York State Federation has cooperated in every possible way with 
the Division of Trades Schools in bringing before the women of the 
State the importance of definite industrial training for boys and a 
no less definite homemaking training for girls. 



The New York State Department of Labor, through the Bureau 
of Statistics^ has made an investigation throughout the State the 
past year to determine (i) the general relation of supply and de- 
mand in regard to skilled labor in the principal industries of the 
State; (2) the conditions under which boys and girls enter the in- 
dustries and their chances for advancement; (3) the opinions of 
both employers and employees as to the value and need of indus- 
trial training. This investigation was made by an expert in indus- 
trial education, Prof. Charles R. Richards, director of Cooper 
Union. 

To the question asked of the Trades Union organizations of the 
State, " Do you favor a public industrial or preparatory trade 
school which shall endeavor to reach boys and girls between 14 and 
16 that now leave in large numbers before graduation?" 1500 
answered " yes," 349 " no," 23 qualified " yes," 5 qualified '' no," 
574 not answering — total 2451. 

To question asked employers in industry, '' Would practical day 
trade schools, giving a specialized training of one year or more 
after the age of 16, help meet the problem of skilled employees in 
your business?" 744 establishments employing 198,865 employees, 
stated ''yes," 341 establishments employing 78,194 employees, stated 
•' no." i 

The whole investigation showed a striking concurrence of opinion 
on the part of employers and employees as to the value of the gen- 
eral industrial or preparatory trades school. 

Attitude of American Federation of Labor 

Representatives of the State Education Department have been 
in touch with officials of this organization with reference to the in- 
dustrial training to which the State has committed itself. A special 
committee on industrial education of the American Federation of 
Labor has corresponded with the Commissioner of Education and 
the Chief of the Trades School Division. Both were invited to 
appear before this committee and present their views as well as to 
state the method of procedure in establishing industrial and trades 
schools within the State. The special committee afterwards reported 
to the full convention which met at Toronto in November 1909. 
An abstract from the committee's report follows : 

If the American workman is to maintain the high standard of 
efficiency, the boys and girls of the country must have an oppor- 
tunity to acquire educated hands and brains such as may enable 



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them to earn a living in a self-selected vocation, and acquire an 
intelligent understanding of the duties of good citizenship. 

We favor the establishment of schools in connection v^ith 
the public school system, at v^hich pupils between the ages of 14 
and 16 may be taught the principles of the trades, not necessarily 
in separate buildings, but in separate schools adapted to this 
particular education, and by competent and trained teachers. 

The course of instruction in such a school should be English, 
mathematics, physics, chemistry, elementary mechanics, and 
drawing; the shop instruction for particular trades, and for each 
trade represented, the drawing, mathematics, mechanics, phy- 
sical and biological science applicable to the trade, the history of 
that trade, and a sound system of economics, including and em- 
phasizing the philosophy of collective bargaining. 

In order to keep such schools in close touch with the trades, 
there should be local advisory boards, including representatives 
of the industries, employers and organized labor. 

The committee recommends that any technical education of 
the workers in trade and industry being a public necessity, it 
should not be a private but a public function, conducted by the 
public and the expense involved at public cost. 

There is a strong reaction coming in general methods of educa- 
tion, and that growing feeling, which is gaining rapidly in 
strength, that the human element must be recognized, and can 
not be so disregarded as to make the future workers mere auto- 
matic m.achines. ^ 

Experience has shown that manual training school teachers 
without actual trade experience, do not and can not successfully 
solve this great problem, and that progress will necessarily be 
slow, as new teachers must be provided, a new set of textbooks 
will have to be written, and the subjects taught in a sympathetic 
and systematic manner. 

^ PLACE OF INDUSTRIES IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 

It is important that some form of manual training be a part of 
the curriculum of the elementary school, since a large part of the 
population — three fourths to nine tenths, according to locality — 
never succeeds in entering any other school. Handwork in these 
grades can not be considered apart from the whole scheme of ele- 
mentary education. Handwork and drawing in general education 
should be approached from four fundamental points : ( i ) To de- 
velop as much as possible of culture — enrichment of life through 
knowledge and appreciation of human achievement in art and in- 
dustry; (2) to give the best possible start toward the life work in 
which the pupil will be most content and most efficient; (3) to fur- 
nish the best possible training for citizenship through developing a 
sense of social and industrial obligations ; and (4) to give the besf 



possible preparation for the continuance of education in higher 
schools. 

As cultural subjects, history and geography have a prominent 
place in the elementary curriculum. Industrial arts should be 
correlated with these subjects. The development and move- 
ment of industry and commerce is the most concrete and the most 
clearly continuous aspect of history and geography which can be 
selected. Their record is the record of how men learned to do, to 
think through the doing, and to transform the primitive condi- 
tions of life :to a higher plane. The arts of weaving, basket mak- 
ing, clay modeling, and representation ; the study of textiles, bam- 
boo, jutes, reeds and dyes can be, and must necessarily be, related 
to the life of primitive people, to Indian life, to the life of our early 
settlers, to past and present problems of transportation, and to 
food and clothing. As a matter of fact, a proper study of in- 
dustry and art can be made to touch in a hundred ways the topics 
of geography and history. 

Industrial arts are equally serviceable from the vocational point 
of view. Acquaintance with the industries is a most promising form 
of vocational assistance to ofit'er to those pupils about toi enter gain- 
ful occupations. Manual dexterity must be developed in early youth. 
The art of represejitation by means of pictures is almost instinc- 
tive in small children and early training fixes a habit. Fundamental 
muscular movements must be developed in the elementary school. 
We must not wait until the child is 14 years of age before we be- 
gin to develop fundamental motor activity. Nimbleness of finger 
movement, a sense of form and color, a desire to work and work 
well, can be instilled in the early and impressionable years. All 
these factors have their direct vocational bearing. 

The problem of training children to take their place in the 
world's work demands that the child be placed in a working en- 
vironment, and the greater the resemblance between his present and 
future fields of activity, the more effective the training received. 
Industrial arts not being a matter of textbook or recitation but 
rather an actual reproduction of processes, furnish the pupils a 
rich industrial experience, develop adaptability through working 
over, under and with others and habituate pupils in a degree to 
such planning of work, estimating of cost, and economizing of ma- 
terials as the outside world will eventually require. 

The study of industrial arts in the elementary school includes 
much more than the various lines of handwork which have already 



found lodging within the curriculum. It should be more than 
recreative or '' busy " work. Manual training was introduced as a 
means of formal discipline. Taken in hand by students of child 
psychology it has been made to appeal effectively to children's motor 
and imitative instincts. So far, so good, but it should also be made 
to furnish some concrete applications for other school work. It is 
only recently that the significance and meaning of handwork in the 
elementary school, as bearing directly upon the future social and 
industrial efficiency of our workers, has had the attention it deserves. 

Industrial work in the primary grades 

In this work much attention has been given to the reactions 
which are secured from children. These depend largely upon the 
appeal which is made to their motor instincts and impulses. An 
educational element of value is the general acquaintance which 
pupils gain of the qualities of the common materials which are 
used, their measurement and their manipulation. This gives a 
foundation for the industrial work of the later school years. Chil- 
dren in the primary grades can gain an elementary knowledge of 
the nature and operations of the industries upon which their own 
lives are most immediately dependent. School gardening, weaving, 
basketry, leather work, etc. can be treated from this standpoint. 
Pupils can be led to the observation and reproduction of the homely^ 
everyday activities which they see as meeting their own im- 
mediate needs, such activities as truck farming, and housekeeping; 
such necessities as clothing and shelter. Every attempt should be 
made to have the industrial work deal with the child's actual and 
immediate environment. By combining productive work with ob- 
servation, there can be developed a habit of attention to the facts 
of this environment which ought to increase an appreciation of its 
activities. 

Industrial arts in the primary grades of the State are no longer 
looked upon as a fad or frill. Primary teachers, trained in our 
State normal schools, are seeing the educational significance of 
drawing and constructive work. There is a growing appreciation 
of its educational content. More attention should be given to the 
true significance and meaning of the industrial arts. There should 
be a close relationship between drawing and making. An investi- 
gation of the manual training and drawing in the 84 cities and 
towns (omitting New York city) in the State, employing a school 
superintendent, shows that 80 of these places have drawing teachers 



9 

who give all, or nearly all of their time to giving instruction in 
drav^ing and simple constructive work, such as paper cutting, card- 
board work and weaving. Outside of New York city there are 
ii8 teachers of drawing in the State. 

The drawing and construction work of the first six grades should 
be under one supervisor. Nothing is gained by a division of efTort. 

Industrial arts in the grammar grades 

At 12 years of age children enter upon the stage of analytical 
and discriminating interest in the social and industrial life about 
them. The impulse towards reality repudiates the toy play and doll 
play of previous years. At this point constructive work should con- 
cern itself with articles for actual use or with the building of me- 
chanical models very closely imitative of the originals. 

Sex differentiation of handwork enters into consideration at this 
point : for boys, toward the larger industries, and for girls, toward 
the household arts. While every one admits that there are im- 
portant social and ethical values in giving either sex a clear appre- 
ciation of the nature and requirements of the work done by the 
other, it is absolutely necessary to keep in mind that the work of 
the average pupil is beginning to have a significance to him through 
a recognized relation to his own future. To give shopwork to girls 
and sewing to boys is to play with a child's present interest and 
future work. It is such pedagogy as this that must be contro- 
verted. 

The work in industrial arts at this point is not defined in the 
narrow sense as being industrial training. It does not imply train- 
ing for efficiency in some one specific occupation or industry. 
Given at 12 years of age it would not necessarily serve to increase 
appreciably the pupils' earning capacity or to shorten the period of 
apprenticeship ; neither does it presuppose a choice of vocation. 

However, it is entirely practicable from the 6th to the 8th grades 
to give such notions of leading industries as shall be of large as- 
sistance towards the proper selection of a particular line of voca- 
tional or industrial training or in the case of those destined for the 
high school and college, toward the proper selection of a higher 
school. 

The cultural values of constructive work and drawing, when 
given a fair proportion of school time — for example, five hours 
a week — are clearly of importance to all classes of pupils. The 
boy destined for a profession needs experience and knowledge that 



10 

will make him appreciate the factors of industrial life. The one 
destined for a highly specialized industry ought to have such ac- 
quaintance with other types as will show him his own in a proper 
perspective. Outside of New York city there are 45 cities and 
large villages that provide manual training to a greater or less ex- 
tent in the elementary grades, the subject being taught by 78 teach- 
-ers, of whom 41 are men. All of these cities and towns have it 
in the first six grades, while approximately two thirds of them have 
[)encliwork in the seventh and eighth grades. 

Correlation between drawing and constructive work 

Some cities and towns in the State have worked out a definite 
connection between drawmg and constructive work. In the majority 
of places, however, the manual training in the upper grades is car- 
ried on independent of the work in drawing. The opportunity to 
furnish a motive for good design and representation by its direct 
application to problems of construction is too important to allow of 
any negligence in the most hearty cooperation between these two 
school activities, which might well be classed under one head — in- 
dustrial arts. Making oi designs to throw into the waste paper 
basket is not a sound educational procedure. Making of the design 
of a basket and then making the basket, is good educational practice. 

Other materials and processes needed 

Constructive work in the upper grammar grades is too closely 
confined to woodwork. This may be valuable as far as it goes, but 
the woodworking trades now include no more than a tenth of the 
more desirable openings. A boy that fails to do good woodwork 
may yet have in him the making of a printer, electrician, plumber 
or draftsman. Industry is now so varied that success or failure 
in any one line offers little evidence regarding one's probable suc- 
cess in others. It is strange that so few schools in the State have 
considered printing as a desirable form of industrial arts work. It 
is an effective way of teaching spelling, punctuation and composi- 
tion. It makes possible the application of border lines, lettering and 
spacing which is emphasized in the drawing courses. It develops 
neatness, orderly arrangement, taste and appreciation of color. 
Every school can make use of a great variety of printed matter 
and this is apparently the one point at which industrial work may 
be carried on in continuous service of the school as a whole. It 
could be in so large a sense a regular industrial enterprise con- 



11 . = 

ducted by the school, that it could give a peculiar sense of reality 
to the whole process. In one grammar school in Buffalo there is 
a printing plant where the boys are printing school programs, invi- 
tations to school exhibitions and school notes. Outside the State 
there are many schools that use their printing plants to print a school 
paper and to do some job printing for the superintendent's office. 
Bookbinding is an excellent adjunct in such a scheme. Boys and 
girls repair their school bcoks, bind up and cover their compositions. 
Electricity as a factor in industrial arts in the elementary school 
is one which can not be ignored in any cultural or vocational survey 
of modern industry. It is constantly becoming a more significant 
factor in the fields of the leading industries. It demands a unique 
type of ability, both mental and manual — an ability frequently 
discovered in pupils whose progress in many other lines of indus- 
trial work is unsatisfactory. Electricity is one of the industries in 
which a study by actual reproduction is most available, since the 
construction, alteration and operation of simple bells, motors, tele- 
graph instruments, etc. is fully practicable at small expense in the 
usual school shop. Accuracy, neatness, order, initiative, skill, and 
manual intelligence can be developed by the manipulation of tools 
and materials other than those now in use in our upper elementary 
grades. 

Industrial arts in rural communities 

The benefits accruing from industrial training need not be con- 
fined to localities having the mechanical industries. New York is a 
great agricultural state ranking fourth in value of farm property, 
fourth in value of farm products, first in the expenditure for farm 
labor. There are 375,990 persons directly engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. The country school must find means for the presentation 
of vocational training from the agricultural standpoint. It is a mis- 
take to extend to the rural school the same industrial work which 
is practical and desirable in the city schools. Boys in the country 
instead of devoting all of their manual training to woodworking ex- 
ercises, might well learn how to set window glass, to mix paint and 
whitewash^ to temper tools, sharpen saws, to make chicken coops, 
brooders, model gates and fences. We must get away from a single 
set of models which have been handed down from a Russian or 
Swedish system of manual arts. 

Many rural districts hesitate to establish courses in household 
arts because of the supposed expense. School trustees examine 
the equipments and methods of the city schools and see no way of 



12 

accomplishing similar results without a direct imitation of the city 
methods. The Household Arts Department of Cornell University 
has developed an equipment and course of study which makes it 
practical to have household arts training in every rural community. 
A cooking equipment suitable for the rural conditions can be ob- 
tained for less than $50. A very satisfactory manual training equip- 
ment for a small school can be obtained for $87.50. Viewed in its 
proper light and in a sense of relationship of education to environ- 
ment, the rural school offers a better opportunity to give adequate 
manual and household arts training than the city school. There can 
be a closer cooperation between the home and the school — a more 
direct application of handwork to environment than is possible in 
the city school. 

Household arts instruction 

Household arts in the upper grades needs fuller consideration 
than has been given to it in the past. While some schools in the 
State have sewing for the girls, there is not, with some notable ex- 
ceptions, any definite, well organized purpose in the instruction. 
It lacks definite supervision. It is usually taught by the regular 
grade teacher who may have a relatively small conception of the 
value of such work and insufficient grasp of effective methods of 
teaching it. Girls in the primary grades may like to sew doll clothes, 
but girls in the upper grades have little interest in darning small 
holes in a bit of cloth, repairing a tear which they have themselves 
just made with a pair of scissors in order to be furnished with an 
exercise, or in cutting out and making an apron which can only fit 
a doll. Girls, like boys, desire to work on and with real things. 
They should be making full sized aprons, shirt waists, and darning 
real stockings. 

The harmony of color and good design has a direct bearing upon 
the clothing that our girls wear and upon the home they live in. 
Surely harmony of colors, as applied to a bow of ribbon in the hair, 
or a shirt waist, is as much applied art as to color a bunch of nas- 
turtiums on a piece of paper. Moreover, it is an art more effec- 
tively applied if the girl selects her materials and makes a shirt 
waist harmonizing with her complexion, form and pocketbook. 

There is no teaching in the upper grades which can be more ef- 
fective on the health, manners and morals of our girls than in- 
struction in cooking. To learn the names of the bones of the body 
can not have the social, or even the educational value that a course 
in food preparation and household science may have. To memorize 
and accept as a fact that starch is manufactured from potatoes, can 



- 13 

not by any possible stretch of educational theory give the same 
mental discipline that a practical experiment in the cooking labora- 
tory in which the girl discovers that starch is made from potatoes. 
Girls can not be taught to be neat and tidy by simple preachments. 
Many a girl has kept her hands cleaner and her hair more tidy 
when she has come in contact with the cooking teacher, the latter 
insisting and the girl seeing the reason for such insistence, that 
the food materials be properly handled. 

A single illustration of what may be done with little money and 
much enterprise is given. A superintendent of schools in the State 
decided to have domestic science in the school system. A car- 
penter was engaged to tear down partitions and make three small 
rooms into one large room. He found six unused laboratory tables. 
These were planed on top and painted on sides and legs. Total 
cost $25. He engaged a plumber to pipe these tables for stoves 
and instal a sink (cost $64.50). The local gas company donated 
a stove. An unused book closet was converted to china closet 
(cost^ none). Dishes and utensils cost $47.69. The same room is 
used for sewing. Teacher's salary $700. Total cost of equipment 
$137.19. The number of pupils in elementary sewing is 158; in 
cooking 106. There is also a class of high school girls. An extract 
from a letter stating what this teacher is doing in her work in 
cooking, follows : 

The children work individually as much as possible. When 
material is expensive they work in groups, giving them the 
practice of planning their work to fit in with the work of others. 
Emphasis is laid on economy of material, gas and dishes used; 
the attractive serving of each dish ; planning and cooking of the 
different dishes so that they could be served hot at the same 
time. While each child worked with very small quantities in 
school, the receipts given them were in large quantities and these 
were made at home, each child reporting on her work when she 
came to class next time. I tried to give them enough lessons under 
each head to give them an idea how anything which might come 
under that head could be prepared. In taking up the classes of 
food, the class put each food cooked in the class to which it be- 
longed — proteid, fat or carbohydrate — and then made up menus 
and criticized menus to see if they were properly balanced. In 
working with meat, the tougher cuts were used, showing that 
wnth proper cooking, the more economical cuts, which are just 
as nutritious as the expensive cuts, could be made very palatable. 

Outside of New York city there are 25 cities and large villages 
teaching domestic science ; 2"] teaching sewing. There are 40 cook- 
ing teachers and 25 sewing teachers employed for this work. 



14 

Relation of manual training to vocational training 
Present tendencies indicate that manual training will become 
richer and perhaps assume a more vocational form and will occupy 
a larger place in the school program, as a result of the widespread 
agitation for vocational training. The latter will react on the man- 
ual training, compelling it to assume a more definite and peda- 
gogical character. No less than five supervisors of manual train- 
ing in the State have readjusted their courses of study since the 
advent of the industrial and trades school law. Superintendents 
and principals are now claiming that their manual training is practi- 
cal while a short time ago they were equally insistent that it was a 
" disciplinary subject." There should not be any confusion as to the 
fundamental difference between the two forms of training. Manual 
training is an instrument designed to form a part of general train- 
ing of all children, while industrial training is more or less special- 
ized instruction which deals with selected groups. 

Vocational education 

By vocational, education is meant all that training and instruction 
which purposely ministers to self-support and productive capacity. 
The study of science, mathematics and art may or may not be 
,vocatiqnal according to its purpose, emphasis, and the type of 
students considered. The industrial and trades school law in the 
State provides for industrial schools for boys and girls who have 
r;reached the age of 14, and trades schools for pupils who have 
^dached the age of 16. In other words, the Education Department 
is ■ standing for two types of schools: (i) the "vocational school," 
"intermediate industrial school," or ''industrial school" which will 
give better elementary school provision for the vocational needs of 
those likely to enter industrial pursuits; (2) "preparatory trades 
school," " preapprenticeship school " or " trades school " which 
offer special shop, laboratory and drawing room practice along a 
chosen trade pursuit. A marked distinction is made between these 
two types of schools. The policy of the Education Department can 
be understood by following carefully the aims and methods of each 
type as outlined. 

INTERMEDIATE INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 

This form of vocational training is primarily for youths from 13 
to 16 years of age in the fields of the trades and manufacturing 
industries, and does not assume in its students the completion of 
the eight year elementary course of study and does not assume to 
give complete trade training. 



15 . 

The vocational school must, from the standpoint of greatest ad- 
vantage both to the individual and the community, train for prac- 
tical work and at the same time secure an adequate training of the 
mind. In the language of school men, all the exercises in the voca- 
tional schools should be educative of the mind as well as the' hand. 
Topics that can not be related to this conception should be ex- 
cluded from the course of study. 

Industrial training should begin (i) after the ordinary school 
arts, like reading, spelling, writing, drawing, arithmetic and gram- 
mar and the rudiments of history, geography and nature study are 
fairly completed, and (2) as soon as the muscles are strong enough 
to handle the lighter tools of industry safely and are sufficiently 
developed for the acquisition of skill in their use. Under ordinary 
conditions the vocational schools should be open to children who 
are 13 or 14 years of age and who have completed the first six 
grades. It is not assumed that in the years from 14 to 16 it is 
practicable to give a complete vocational education ; in most cases 
the completion of such education must be found in the actual pur- 
suit of the calling. A more definite preparation can be obtained in 
the system of trades schools which follow and supplement these 
schools. 

An intermediate industrial school for children entering at 13 or 
14 years of age should have a course extending from two to four 
years. The latter period is preferable for two reasons, first, be- 
cause this length of time is necessary to produce the requisite mental 
and physical training for a life of progression in industrial ef- 
ficiency, and second, because it enables the school to attract and hold 
the student from 14 to 16, when his growing power is greatest and 
his earning power least. 

For the first two years the studies should be general in 
character, being designed to round out the elementary school — 
instruction laying the foundation of industrial efficiency and arous- 
ing a set of industrial interests that will demand the work of the 
next two years for their fulfilment. In other words, general me- 
chanical training the first two years and " specialization " the last 
two years. This specialization will not come until the pupil is 16 
years of age. 

For the last two years the studies should be more specific in 
character. The first two years should have developed an interest 
in industrial subjects, and by this time the pupil ought to have 
determined what line of mechanical work he was best adapted for 



16 

and should then fit himself for a trade pursuit. The general aim 
of the last two years should be to make specific applications of 
subject-matter to the industries of the locality and its vicinity. 
The boy might spend the major part of his school time of the last 
two years in the shopwork. It is suggested that possibly a definite 
connection can be made between the vocational school and local ap- 
prenticeship systems that may exist in local factories. 

The intermediate industrial school will not primarily aim at trades 
teaching because the trades are too many and too diversified and be- 
cause the training would be narrow and intensive and would pre- 
vent the realization of the larger vocational qualities which such 
education aims to attain. 

Specialization characterizes modern industry^ but back of many 
groups of trades or factory processes are found certain elements of 
likeness in the materials employed, the tools used, and the general 
character of the product. While schools or courses can not be es- 
tablished to meet indivdual wants, it is at the same time feasible to 
discover in any school system having a population of 5000, or more, 
large groups of children whose interests, capacities and probable 
economic destinations justify the maintenance of a vocational 
school. Such cities have discovered that there are enough ~chil- 
dren who are going into college to justify a college preparatory 
course. In every portion of New York there is a considerable 
localization of industry, and there are enough workers in certain 
trades and industries to justify preparatory training looking towards 
these industries. Equality of educational opportunity demands that 
these communities do as much and do it as definitely as they are now 
doing for those pupils who expect to go on to college. 



Practical aim 

Three fundamental points need consideration in the practical aims 
of intermediate industrial education : - 

I That this type of education is not to lay its emphasis on the 
training of leaders — except as an American democracy, every one 
has the right to lead if personal power and experience give him 
that advantage. Youths of promise can not and should not be kept 
down. Time and experience in the trade will develop leadership if 
the foundation is sure. 



17 

2 That it is not the purpose of this type of school to make voca- 
tional training incidental or subordinate to further liberal train- 
ing. The many who are to enter our industries are of equal ac- 
count with the few pupils who succeed in any type of school. Pres- 
ent educational facilities provide for the latter. 

3 That it is not to confine itself to a narrow and highly special- 
ized trade training. It is to lead boys and girls toward the in- 
dustries with awakened sympathies and ambition for industrial 
careers with some knowledge of industrial qualities and with some 
conception of what the industries have to offer them. 

Ideals to be reached 

The ideals to be reached in such a school may be summed up 
under four headings : 

1 The development of a part of the experience, intelligence and 
skill requisite in a given group of related industries. Courses in 
industrial arts can be devised which will give similar experience 
with the tools, materials, and processes involved in groups of re- 
lated industries. 

2 The adaptation of its work to the prevailing industries of the 
locality. Local financial support and sound pedagogy demand that 
industrial education shall grow out of community needs. 

3 This type of school should serve as an agency for the proper 
and wise selection of occupation. Intelligent vocational selection 
is wellnigh impossible under present school conditions. 

4 The development of certain large industrial and social qualities 
such as interest in work, ideals of workmanship, and industrial re- 
sponsibility. It seems reasonable to believe that the best way to 
obtain such qualit'"es is in connection with actual work in a school. 

Method to be employed 

The course of study will fail to accomplish its purpose unless 
the following principles are carried out : 

1 The teaching of essentials in bookwork. 

2 Teaching applications before theory. This is very important — 
application of mathematics to shopwork, shop accounts, business 
subjects, etc. 

2 



• ■ 18 

3 A definite correlation, by grouping related siibjects under one 
subject. 

4 Avoidance of the division of the school day into short periods. 

5 Study under direction in the schoolroom. If home work is 
assigned, it should be along the line of working up notes, writing 
descriptive sketches, rather than the assignment of matter which has 
not been carefully explained beforehand. 

Organization of subject-matter 

That the subject-matter will vary according to the locality has 
'already been made clear. The shopwork should result in products 
which are usable and under favorable conditions, salable, common 
sense will determine what is feasible and fair to all interests con- 
cerned. Pedagogical principles demand that the boys and girls at- 
tending this type of school shall deal with whole products, repro- 
ducing commercial conditions so that an abiding appreciation of 
rate of work may enter into the question of production. The factory 
school at Rochester has been successfully working on this basis. 
Others are approaching it. 

The most effective method of approach in the bookwork will be 
along the lines of its application and with comparatively little study 
of pure forms. Mathematics, science, drawing, and to a slight extent 
even English and history, should grow out of, and manifest its re- 
lations to the concrete shopwork. It will be necessary in planning 
the bookwork to discover to what extent each subject should enter. 
The industrial and educational requirements of the trades are so 
varied that it is impossible to offer a single inflexible course of 
study. For example, if the student selects a trade that requires 
more mathematics than is offered in the given course he may be 
allowed to take extra work in this branch at the expense of some 
irrelevant subject. 

Vocational vs. nonvocational studies 

When the program of vocational studies has been determined it 
may be possible to introduce others that are frankly nonvocational, 
such as music and art. Caution must be used in this matter. It is 
possible to make a social and industrial citizen, to give vocational 
intelligence and vocational ideals by studying evolution of industry. 



19 

industrial hygiene, rates of compensation, relations between em- 
ployers and employees. Formal and detailed work in the so called 
'' cultural '' subjects dees not necessarily make for citizenship. In 
the Albany vocational school stress is laid upon the development 
of transportation and communication, the establishment and growth 
of cities together with their new code of civic life involved, the 
changes brought about by the concentration of capital and labor in 
production, and the civic duties and privileges of the modern in- 
dustrial citizen. It is believed that the educational context of 
facts concerning industrial and economic development is greater 
than that of the study of facts relating to wars, boundaries of 
states, or development of political parties. 

Organization and administration of industrial and trades schools 

The State law provides that these schools shall be a part of the 
public schood system but that their work is not to be mingled or 
confused with the work of the other schools. They occupy rooms 
of their own, have courses and teachers of their own. Experience 
has clearly demonstrated the wisdom of this provision. The Edu- 
cation Department provides three checks by which the vocational 
character of these schools can be preserved: (i) State inspection 
by a special agent; (2) requirement that shop teachers shall be men 
and women with practical training and experience in the industries ; 
and (3) bookwork organized in relation to shop work, 

]\Iuch may be said in favor of having these schools under their 
own roof and working completely under their own program. There 
is thus provided an industrial atmosphere and such schools may be 
expected to develop their own social spirit. It is not always pos- 
sible to start an industrial school in a separate building, but 
it is possible to select one, two or three rooms and make a begin- 
ning in an industrial school organization. To delay until a new 
building can be built for this special purpose is often to approach 
the solution of the problem ineffectively. New York city, Rochester 
(factory), Albany and Freeville (George Junior Republic) have 
separate school buildings for these schools. Yonkers has started 
its trades school in the high school building until the new build- 
ing is built. Hudson, Schenectady, Lancaster, Buffalo, Roches- 
ter (vocational) and Gloversville have the industrial school organi- 
zation in a school building which is used for another purpose. It 
requires time and tact to prevent the growth of obnoxious class 



20 



distinctions in these special schools, but time will solve the prob- 
lem as it has solved it in our American universities. 

Schools organised under the law of 1908 



Albany 

Buffalo 

Freeville 

a6Gloversville 

aHudson . 

aLancaster ... ...... 

New York 

Rochester (boys) . . . . 

Rochester (girls) 

Schenectady 

a Yonkers (trade) 

Yonkers (vocational). 



TEACHERS 




STUDENTS 




Men 


Wo Tie n 


Total 


Boys 
49 


G;rls 
38 


Total 


2 


3 


5 


87 


2 





2 


40 





40 


5 


2 


7 


32 


31 


63 





I 


I 


37 


45 


82 


I 


2 


3 


2 1 


23 


44 


I 





I 


38 





38 


6 





6 


116 





116 


6 





6 


100 





100 





I 


I 





18 


18 


I 


I 


2 


50 





50 


I 





I 


25 





25 





2 


2 





25 


25 



aEvening df. ss also. Gloversville i6; Hudson i8; Lancaster 46; Yonkers 239. 
6Not yet organized under trades school law. 

TRADES SCHOOLS AT 16 YEARS OF AG3 

The existing manual training courses in the high schools of the 
State are not trade courses, neither the manual nor the academic 
instruction being especially planned to be of direct vocational serv- 
ice. Their pupils are of the same general type, of the same age 
and of the same preparatory training as are the pupils of the clas- 
sical courses. Their courses endeavor to develop the same type of 
intelligence, the same habits of thought and the same kinds of ability 
as do the other courses in the high schools. They are located in 
schools of the college preparatory type in which the instruction, 
mechanical as well as academic, aims to provide the mental discip- 
line of the kind required of those who would continue their studies 
in higher institutions. 

In filling this function, these courses are serving a useful purpose. 
However, the field occupied by the manual training courses in ex- 
isting high schools, is entirely distinct and different from the field 
to be occupied by the trades schools as proposed under the State law. 



Trades courses vs. manual training courses 

The trades schools will differ from the manual training courses 
in the secondary schools in the following particulars : 



21 

1 Pupils enter the trades schools with a definite purpose of pre- 
paring for industrial careers. 

2 The trades school absolutely abandons all college preparatory 
work. 

3 There is almost no instruction in pure mathematics or pure 
science, but instead, a fair amount of time is given to such applied 
mathematics and applied science as is closely related to the trade 
selected by the pupil ; in fact, all the instruction, whether in class- 
room, shop or laboratory, is designed so as to be directly usable. 

4 The trades schools will necessarily take on varying forms in 
different localities. 

5 They will not be parallel to our existing high schools in that 
they will not necessarily draw pupils who have completed the eight 
grades of the elementary school. 

6 They will make a more or less direct connection with the in- 
termediate industrial schools previously outlined. 

7 Those students in the trades schools who have had preliminary 
industrial, training in the vocational schools will be allowed to take 
highly specialized courses with their instruction concentrating upon 
the development of skill and knowledge of direct practical bearing. 

Outlook for trades schools 

Eventually trades schools must be established in every section 
of the State where there is a demand for such training. The Em- 
pire State can not forever neglect the training of workers for our 
great constructive industries ; neither wall our workers always allow^ 
educational authorities to ignore their needs. There will be many 
types — monotechnic and polytechnic — fitting in with every indus- 
try. For example, some time we may look for a series of prepara- 
tory trades schools for printers. In this State there are over 
50,000 people employed in printing and allied trades. There are 5 
cities that should have a school for printers and lithographers. We 
■ may look for at least 3 textile schools for the 75,000 people who 
are engaged in the textile industry. The State should contain at 
least one shoe trade or technical school to fit workers for an in- 
dustry that employs about 17,000 workers. Through private en- 
terprise. New York has a school for the workers on ready-made 
clothing. There are 130,000 people employed in this industry and 
I school is entirely inadequate and does not touch the problem 
in Rochester at all. The electrical machinery apparatus and sup- 
ply industries require the services of 16,000 workers. A school 
of lower grade than an electrical engineering school would be of 



22 

much benefit to such people. At least 3 such schools are needed in 
the State. There are 55,000 men and boys employed in the foundry 
and machine shops of the State. There are at least 18 cities in 
the State that have sufficient iron working industries and workers 
to warrant machine trades schools. There are 2 large paper man- 
ufacturing centers within the State employing 12,000 workers. A 
high standard of manufacture, excellence of workmanship and per- 
sonal ambition of workers in the State can not always be main- 
tained without attention to the special educational needs of these 
workers. There are 15,000 people employed in car shops and rail- 
road repair shops. Men's furnishing goods and shirt industries 
have over 26,000 workers ; furniture making i6,ooo ; planing mills 
15,000, etc. A man's work is worthy of being dignified by special 
education fitting him for it. The quicker we realize it the better 
for the interests of the State. 

Industrial and trade training for girls 

There is no intention on the part of the State Education Depart- 
ment to ignore the problem of girls' training, and much that has 
already been stated can be applied to the work for girls. Tlie aim 
of the vocational and trades courses for girls is twofold: (i) It is 
to enable them through the right sort of homemaking training, to 
enter homes of their own, able to assume household duties with an 
intelligent preparation and to perpetuate the type of home that will 
bring about the highest standard of health and morals; (2) the 
courses of trade instruction will also train for work in distinctly 
feminine occupations. The time is not far away when every girl 
will learn some specific kind of remunerative skilled work. 

There is no conflict between these twofold purposes. It simply 
means that girls will earn a livelihood in some skilled work dur- 
ing the 3, 6 or 8 years after leaving school and prior to marriage, 
and will do so for their own and the good of society. The earning 
power of these girls during these years will raise the standard of 
living in their families and give the impulse to a higher level. It 
means, moreover, that after marriage the girls will find most use- 
ful that homemaking training which they had in their vocational 
school work. 

Taking these two points of view together, it is clear that indus- 
trial education for girls should embrace those subjects which women 
should understand and which will be of use in life. Dressmaking, 
millinery and cooking should be taught not only with the idea of 
enabling girls to direct a household in a better and more economical 



23 

way, but also to make them proficient enough so'that they can earn 
a living if economic conditions demand it. 

It is increasingly evident that not only are the demands of mod- 
ern life thrusting into the background the instruction that should 
be centered in the home, but also that the women are entering the 
industries. Of the 377 lines of employment listed in the census in 
1900, women had entered all but 7, in greater or less numbers. 
Nearly 30 per cent of the workers in the factories of New York 
State are women and girls. If industrial and trade training for 
boys is to be considered, then it is clear that industrial training for 
girls can not be overlooked. 

In the housekeeping courses the girls would be taught: 

a To care for the rooms : sweep, dust, clean windows and paint, 
build a fire and care for the stove, sink and tables. 

h To cook simple nutritious dishes in family quantities and to 
buy the materials for these dishes. 

c To serve a simple meal and know something of its nutritive 
value, expense and fitness. 

d To wash and iron the garments made in the sewing classes. 
the aprons worn for school work and the towels, table mats, and 
curtains used in the house. 

e To keep a book of recipes used in cooking lessons. 

In the trades school courses the girls would be given preparatory 
trade training for any trade for which there was sufficient demand. 
A few of the many possible courses which might be organized in 
girls' trades schools, are millinery, dressmaking, household design 
and furnishing, institutional cooking and kitchen management, hair 
dressing, ready-made clothing, bookbinding, box making, glove 
making, engraving, shirt making, etc. 

EVENING SCHOOLS FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 

There is an urgent need for evening trade and technical classes 
for bettering the opportunities of men and women already employed 
in industrial vocations during the day. Existing day schools which 
have well equipped shops and drawing rooms can render no more 
important service than to offer such facilities to the industrial 
workers. 

The Buffalo Technical High School is open for evening work. 
Most of the men are from the shops in the city. The subjects 
taught are architectural drawing, carpentry and joinery, forging, 
steam engineering and fitting, mechanical drawing, sheet metal 
drafting, mathematics, physics, architectural design, electrical work, 



24 

gas engineering, plumibing, pattern making, machine design, machine 
shop practice, mechanics, chemistry and surveying. 

The city of New York contains several evening schools of trades 
using the equipment of the manual training high schools. Tuition 
is free. Work is given under practical teachers. Among the 
subjects taught are free-hand and commercial drawing as applied to 
publication, advertising and industrial purposes, mechanical and 
architectural drawing, carpentry and joinery, cabinet making, plumb- 
ing, machine shop work, electrical and steam engineering, electric 
wiring and installation, mathematics, industrial chemistry. The 
number of students who are taking industrial courses in the 
various evening high schools, is as follows : Stuyvesant Evening 
Trade School, 736; Evening Technical and Trade School, 926; 
Long Island City Evening High and Trade School, 775 ; New 
York Evening High School for Women, 349; Evening Elementary 
Industrial School No. 67, 324 ; and Evening Elementary Industrial 
School No. 5, 312. 

No mention is made in this list of the sewing, dressmaking, mil- 
linery and cooking classes as conducted in the elementary evening 
schools which are not specifically evening trades schools. 

The Schenectady Evening High School has an electrical course 
with the work so arranged as to meet the needs of mechanics con- 
nected with the General Electric Company who desire to secure addi- 
tional training along electrical lines. The course covers the follow- 
ing studies, each receiving three hours per week : algebra, plane 
geometry, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, mechanical drawing, 
elementary machine design and dynamo construction. The school 
board intend to open the day industrial school for evening school 
work. 

In Syracuse three of the evening schools ofifer courses in cooking, 
while one has a class in woodwork. The total number of students 
taking sewing is 86 ; number taking cooking, 36 ; number taking 
woodwork, 18. The evening high school has a class of 15 students 
in cabinet making, and two classes in mechanical drawing with a 
membership of 50 students, both of these classes being taught by 
shop men. 

For the size of the city, Ithaca has a large evening school, the 
industrial subjects being mechanical drawing, wood and metal work- 
ing, sewing and cooking. In the student body 47 different occupa- 
tions are represented. The average attendance is 86 per cent. 
Out of a total of 154 pupils, 47 have elected industrial subjects. 



25 

The evening work that Little Falls is doing points the way to a 
similar work that might be done by a city of the same class. Six 
instructors are employed, two of whom are engaged in what might 
be called industrial work. There are 24 pupils in two classes — one 
mechanical drawing and the other practical mathematics. All of 
these students are engaged in the shops of the city. 

Hudson offers the facilities of its industrial school to night 
school students. There are 18 men taking mechanical drawing and 
shop work. In Gloversville there is an evening class in glove 
making. Lancaster has an evening drawing school with 46 stu- 
dents, taught by a day school industrial teacher. 

No attempt has been made to mention all the evening schools of 
the State that have industrial courses. The main object of these 
schools is to give men already employed in the trades, who know 
therefore at least a part of the trade in which they are employed, 
an opportunity to broaden their mechanical training and make them- 
selves more efficient workmen. 

The State has an insignificant number of evening drawing schools. 
The expense of maintaining such schools involves only the salary 
of teachers, heat and light. Such schools would be of incomparable 
benefit to industrial workers. 

Final word 

No note of disparagement of the work of the advanced technical 
schools or the manual training high schools is intended. The higher 
technical schools are of the highest advantage to the State. The}^ 
might well be multiplied. The same may be said of the manual 
training schools of high school grade, but it should be known that 
they are essentially college preparatory schools, or schools of general 
culture and that they do little in the way of training workmen. The 
State now stands in need of training in craftsmanship. This is a 
land of educational opportunity and of free choice of work. The 
public has had the habit of providing schools which lead to pro- 
fessional, more than to industrial employments. This is a discrimi- 
nation which is unjust to many of our people and it is clearly a dis- 
advantage to the community. It can only be remedied by a new 
class of public schools. 

Public school authorities should see to it that every boy and girl 
has a good elementary training in the " fundamentals " before 
selecting special industrial work. It is not the purpose of the State 
Education Department to urge an industrial school system of such a 



26 

character that it will prevent sound, fundamental education. After 
the ordinary school arts have been mastered pupils should be offered 
their free choice of schools v^hich will train them in literary accom- 
plishments and for professional employments, or for commercial or 
business life, or for craftsmanship. The community must stand 
fair between employments and between people. Every boy and girl 
of any account can learn to do something fairly well, and the com- 
munity ought not to encourage him to do the thing that he can not do 
very well, but it ought to aid him to do whatever he may learn to 
do well. The choice must be left to the boy and to the parent. He 
must have his free chance, and if he has it he will generally make 
the most of it. Manifestly, the chance will have to come throug'h 
schools which train for all kinds of vocations. 



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